Hey guys! This was a pain to write for I had no clue the perfect direction to start this arc. Didn't want to just jump right in with the arc's main gimmick or making Joharai look like a hypocrite for going on a demon hunting job despite taking a break from all the action. I finally managed to make this chapter for the starter! Now let's dive in to more madness. Oh and please leave some reviews! This is the first time I'm doing a story like this and some reviews could help. Though flames will be ignored and deleted!
Days had passed since Joharai had forgiven Dante. It relieved the man to no end that he can walk into his business without two Stands wanting to beat him up. The Stand Business was something both Dante and everyone else in Devil May Cry were trying to get used to especially since Joharai's twin decided to join the team. Gappy had stuck around offering his specialty in Stand Analyzing and gave the whole group a rundown on Stands and Stand Users.
Any living sentient creature with a strong fighting spirit can become a Stand User. Stands vary from appearances, powers and abilities depending on their user. Their stats are categorized for Destructive Power, Speed, Durability, Range, Precision and Development Potential. The user gets hurt if their Stand gets hurt. Destroying a person's Stand could knock out or potentially kill a Stand User. Only Stand Users can see Stands but that rule was now an exception.
Gappy had discovered that demonic energy interferes with a Stand's own energy. This interference causes Stands to be seen and touched by non-Stand Users. The sole reason why they could see Stands without being a Stand User themselves. And finally Stand Users attract other Stand Users. Not all of them are nice as Joharai's family for she pulled up many foes they faced who also had Stands. Gray Fly and his Tower of Gray knocking planes out of the sky, Kira Yoshikage and his Killer Queen murdering countless people and even the Deathrow inmate Angelo with his Aqua Necklace that murdered people ever since he was 12 with Joharai's great grandfather being one of his victims.
The gang were introduced to the greatest anomaly amongst Stands, Joharai's Fort Minor. Fort Minor was the biggest mystery amongst Stand Users for it broke the laws revolving Stands themselves. A Stand dies when the user dies but Fort Minor had brought back and taken the Stands of her family's greatest foes from the grave. Stands like The World, King Crimson, Killer Queen and multiple others pulled from oblivion and nestled into Fort Minor's soul. Fort Minor had also restored the Stand of a family friend named Jean Pierre Polnareff.
His Stand Silver Chariot had been destroyed to protect Giorno Giovanna during a very desperate battle. Yet Fort Minor had found pieces of the Stand and remade it into a smaller youngling form named Mini Chariot. Mini Chariot could return to Silver Chariot under proper care by Polnareff from what Gappy had explained. And Fort Minor's development potential was unknown, the biggest factor amongst everything. A Stand having unknown potential was unheard of and it only occurred once in the past but under completely different circumstances.
It had blown their minds of this new world of oddities opened to them from meeting Joharai but also the new dangers. This had Dante, Vergil and Nero heading over to Joharai's apartment for a single reason. To prepare for any potential encounter with a Stand User during jobs. "Did you call Joharai about us coming over? I rather not get shot by that airplane again." Nero asked. "Yeah I called Jojo about us coming over. She was completely okay with it. Hell she even said she would have some lunch ready for us." Dante answered with a grin.
"Does she know about our half demon biology and the fact that we can eat more than a family of three separately?" Vergil questioned. The demon heritage was something all 3 Sparda males were uncomfortable especially to strangers. Despite Joharai having a few vampires in her family, they didn't want to scare her since unlike vampires, their true forms were monstrous altogether. The silence was answer enough as is. "Let see if Joharai has any new Stand friend over." Dante said opening the door to Joharai's apartment complex.
And they were greeted to a dinosaur at the door. No, there literally was a dinosaur standing in front of the doorway specifically a raptor that was as tall as Dante. It was covered in blue scales, red eyes, Dio shaped yellow patterns going down the tail and a black scarf with red patches that spell Dio and violet patches that read DMC sewed into it. They couldn't help but scream in surprise seeing the giant prehistoric reptile. "Diego! Get over here! No scaring visitors!" Joharai's voice came from inside the apartment.
The raptor Diego merely huffed before getting out of the three men's way so they could enter the pomp princess's abode. There were a few additions in decor to the jazzy home from last time. Scratching Post towers, an expertly carved bird perch shaped like the Egyptian God Horus, a nice large fountain crafted from stone and some sort of ice, tunnel way no doubt for Joharai's pet rat Bug-Eaten and a bunch of strange modified roller skates. Pet Shop was nestled on the bird perch wearing an arrow point hat and pink scarf with DMC sewed into it in black.
Coco Jumbo was lazing in his large fountain enjoying a homemade salad. Kars was on his side of the bird perch grooming himself. Iggy was napping on the couch wearing a black beanie with DMC sewed in red, a red bandanna and doggy black gloves. Bug-Eaten scurried through his tunnel with a yellow scarf around his neck with DMC sewed it into black. However there was no sign of Joharai but there was a cacophony of cat meows coming from one of the rooms. The dino called Diego had shrunk back into an axolotl before walking to the 'meowing' door.
Joharai walked up looking like she had been run ragged. "That answer that question. Hey guys." Joharai said nonchalant despite the ragged breathing. "What happened?" Vergil questioned. "Apparently Stand/Cat hybrids can still have kittens. Tama released spores last night after giving her some extra sunlight treatment. Woke up to a garden of budding flower kittens meowing for food." Joharai explained fixing her messy pompadour. The three looked at each other and just walked in to see this 'garden'. And she wasn't lying.
The room was an indoor garden with a single path at the center. Every planter had large flowers of different colors with eyes and mouths acting and meowing like cats with a larger and more cat like Tama grooming herself. Tama now looked more like a housecat as the vines twisted to form a feline body, the leaves serving as claws, her flower head now fully bloomed into a hybrid sunflower rose and a tail ending with a rose as the cat plant was now the size of a Mainecoone cat.
(Sparda male's view on Stands
Dante: I can handle demons being part of my life but I don't know if I can get used to Stands in general! To know they can pop up in any form is bad enough but to turn what they touch into bombs, erase time, shrink people, attack through your bloodstream and ERASE YOU FROM EXISTENCE?!
I don't to walk into my store and be worried that the pizza guy or even the pizza is a Stand! Though it's good we know now instead of later. We're lucky Joharai wanted the secretary job or we could kiss our asses goodbye.
I have to admit it took all I had to restrain myself from even poking Joharai's Stand Fort Minor. Despite how violent our Pomp Princess can get Fort Minor is like a saint disguised in movie disco. She's sweet, motherly and just the perfect shoulder to lean on.
Though it'll take some time getting used to an axototl that can transform into a dinosaur and the garden of cat flowers meowing their heads off.
Vergil: These Stands are very peculiar and random. Having a variety of forms and powers can easily make any not trust their surroundings but having can be a huge advantage.
Hard to believe there were humans who could bend the fabric of time or space, erase existence and to control others by writing commands into the very fabric of their prey. The greatest anomaly being 'Fort Minor'.
As Joharai represents a deadly femme fatale, Fort Minor is the equivalent of loving mother. Her aura just soothes me and my demon Urizen just from being near her. These fallen Stands can easily see the safe sanctuary this spirit provides.
I want her. I want to claim them both. The sanctuary I've been denied for so long. Even if I have to deal with these oddities, it's nice to find somewhere or someone I belong.
Nero: My life isn't going to be normal ever again huh? But it's not so bad after learning about Stands. To feel like I'm not the only oddity in the world isn't bad. Sure, I'm a Quarter Demon but you don't see any odd crap like giant purple punch ghosts, vines, or a giant radio tower coming out of me!
Stopping time, controlling the weather, turning people into snails and ah hell no! I'm making sure Dante never meets that Stand User or I'll be having the word Deadweight shot at me everyday!
Is it bad that I want to just stay near Joharai's Stand? Fort Minor just has this soothing and warm feel about her that only a mother could have. Even my demon just wants to be smothered by this Stand's motherly love.
Though axototls being able to turn into dinosaurs and kittens from a cat reincarnated into a flower is just odd. But these kitten flowers are kinda cute. Wonder if I can get one?
Back to the story!)
There had to be 2 dozen of them excluding Tama. "So that's why Gappy was carrying all that canned cat food at 4 in the morning. Holy shit." Nero spoke looking at all the kittens. "These little guys are pretty cute." Dante spoke as he petted a red flower kitten who was purring from the affection. "Yeah but don't let that fool you. Every one of them is capable of shooting highly pressurized air bubbles like their mother over there. These bubbles are capable of preventing explosions in range or killing a person with a 10 cc bubble going through their veins." Joharai warned as Vergil eyed all the cat flowers.
"What are you going to do with all of them?" Vergil asked. "I'll be sending a lot of these guys to the Speedwagon Foundation. They have a suitable garden for them to live in happily. Great great godfather Speedwagon would be delighted with their company." The pomp princess answered as Nero's eyes widened. "You know the Founder of the Speedwagon Foundation?! The multibillion company that works on all fields of medicine, agriculture and everything in between?!" Nero asked surprised.
"Yeah. They also have a research section for the paranormal and Stand Research. The Founder is a dearest friend of Great X3 Grandpa Johnathan. Speedwagon is a Stand User and his Stand Roundabout being the sole reason he's still alive despite being over 150 years old." Joharai explained. 'Can her family get even weirder?!' Was the thought of all three men. "Though not all the kittens are going to the Foundation. Two will be living at Devil May Cry, three at the Fortuna Orphanage and one for Nico. They can be great protectors and greeters for guests. Plus I promise Nico could adopt one after finding out." Joharai explained giving each kitten a toy to play with.
"You are ridiculously rich! Not only being the granddaughter of the Real Estate Mogul Joseph Joestar but also in contact with the Speedwagon Foundation is just plain crazy." Nero stated. "Wait...Are you serious? That's the same agency I bought my shop!" Dante asked completely shocked. "Wait? You are the Dante that has been having trouble paying his bill? You were supposed to be reimbursed because someone had been stealing money from grandpa's customers including you! Grandpa has been trying to get into contact with you about it!" Joharai explained as Dante looked shell-shocked.
His eyes soon glowed a bright red as he let out an inhuman growl. "Someone has been stealing from me?" He questioned angrily. "For about 2 decades. Luckily the guy has been caught and punished accordingly. Been looking for ya since Grandpa gave me a copy of the reimbursement document and a check for every penny that was taken because of that scum. 'Tools of the Trade'." Joharai explained as a document and check manifested in her hands. Dante took the papers and read before his eyes widened greatly.
"Holy crap. 5 million dollars…and is this deed to a house of my own choosing?" Dante almosted stuttered. "The house deed is Grandpa's way of saying thanks for allowing me and my twin to work at your shop when no one else let me apply. I told him you live in your shop so he opted to fix it along with your massive debt." Joharai explained. She suddenly found herself getting bearhugged by the man and swore she could hear purring from him. "You and your grandfather are a fucking miracle! I can pay off all my debts and now can get my own house!" Dante laughed happily and hysterically twirling the pomp princess in joy.
"Whoa! I'm glad I can help. Now put me down so we can eat." Joharai chuckled. Minutes later… The three males were now on Joharai's couch waiting for her to come back with the food. Her tv was hooked up to her Nintendo Switch game system and was playing a game that none of the twins recognized but Nero sure did. "Oh my god, she plays Kirby." Nero quietly chuckle to himself amused looking at the screen as an adorable pink puffball ran across it.
"What's wrong with me liking Kirby?" Said Pomp Princess walking with three bowls of ramen though Crazy Diamond was carrying one of the bowls and bunch of chopsticks. "I didn't expect you playing a game that looks like that." Dante questioned with a smirk on his face. The pomp princess raised her eyebrow while Crazy Diamond handed them their food. "It may look cute but the Kirby franchise is really popular, especially with men since the first game was released in the 1990s. Offers great power ups, boss battles and challenges." Joharai stated sitting down and grabbed her controller.
"What is this peculiar dish?" Vergil questioned eyeing his bowl of Ramen. "It's Ramen, homemade ramen. A traditional noodle dish served with a nice broth, variety of vegetables and meats. I didn't know what you guys liked so I made three whole pots of different ramen. Pork Ramen, Chicken and Beef Ramen, Vegetable and finally Spicy Crab Ramen." She explained as the three men looked at each other before taking a bite of their food. "Wow. This is actually quite good. Wouldn't mind a bowl of this once in a while though pizza is still better." Dante answered as the pomp princess rolled her eyes. Dante would make out with a pizza pie if he could.
The three men decided to watch Joharai play her game and honestly could understand why she liked it. Sure it looked stupidly cute but the power ups, graphics and abilities had pulled all three males to watch eagerly. They didn't suspect some of the cute things being eldritch. "That is definitely Verg right there! That blue masked puffball even looks like him!" That comment from Dante had Joharai pause her game so she wouldn't get a game over from laughing. "You mean Meta Knight? 'Behold my power! This is Galaxia's strength!" Joharai said acting like she was wielding a sword and doing a quite bad impression of the character. Dante laughed as Vergil looked annoyed. "Meta Knight does remind me of Vergil though you just admitted to him being cool enough to pilot his own battleship." Joharai remarked. Vergil looked a bit smug as Dante scoffed from his joke backfiring.
"And that rodent in red is definitely you little brother." Vergil said as Dante rolled his eyes while Nero snickered. "Hey, Daroach is an awesome character! Plus his theme is pretty snazzy. He's my favorite antagonist from my first Kirby game, Squeak Squad!" Joharai countered as Dante grinned and Vergil scoffed. "Since you started this Dante, Nero's perfect Kirbysona is Bandanna Waddle Dee. Both are adorable and strong plus like a sidekick to their respective characters which for Bandanna is Meta Knight." Joharai chuckled. Nero blushed in embarrassment from the comment while Dante laughed and Vergil snorted. "Then who's your Kirby whatever?" Nero questioned. "Taranza. She just sort of fits me, ya know? Plus I love her Spider like ability." Joharai answered earning a bunch of nods from the group.
"Videogames is something normal in my household. Dad introduced me and Gappy to it when we were kids. Sometimes we settled stupid arguments by playing games like Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart. There's quite a variety, some even a help people learn new languages or serve as good brain teasers." She explained earning some nods from the group. "I guess that case over there has your games in it?" Nero questioned pointing to the cabinet. "Yep. You guys can take a look at them. Though if you see a white box, then those are my brother's." Joharai spoke.
Dante taking Joharai's suggestion went to the cabinet to be greeted with a lot of games and vast variaty of genres. They ranged from E-M in rating but mostly E or T on them. "Damn. You got a lot of these. Prototype? Sonic Unleashed? Legend of Zelda, that's Verg right there. Ooh, Infamous looks cool. Knack? Jak and Daxter. Ratchet and Clank?? Sly Cooper? Most of these have some fantasy non-human main characters." Dante said as Joharai gave him an odd look. "I like Sci-fi, Fantasy and Adventure games. If it has a good story or looks fun to play then I'll buy. As for the non-human thing, I think it makes the characters unique in a sense. The hardships they face in their respective stories just makes me what to hug them and beat the shit out of those who hurt em. Species doesn't matter to me or their past. If they did awful things in the past but are willing to redeem themselves then I'll help them every step of the way. Even if they are the same person that raised that insane demon tree sometime ago." Joharai explained not noticing the comforted look on all three men's faces.
Her words rang out in their minds as they knew she was sincere and telling the absolute truth but it affected both Vergil and Dante greatly. To Vergil, he had done many terrible things in the past for power with the Qliphtoth being an example. It still haunted him every night in his dreams as he realized he was no better than the very monsters who killed their mother or the poor woman who birthed Nero in a blind whirlwind of uncontrolled demon instincts. To hear Joharai say those words had eased the pain a bit. Maybe she could help him?
To Dante, he always had rotten luck especially concerning women. No sane person would date Dante if they knew he was a demon. Sure there's Lady and Trish but Lady is more like a sister and Trish looks too much like his mother for him to be comfortable with. Yet Joharai not only fully freed him from his debt, got him to be able to buy his own house for free but was willing to go out on a limb for her friends even if they weren't human touched his heart. And considering the odd stuff occurring with her family, she probably wouldn't be fazed of them being part demon.
"Hey Dante, since you guys want to be ready for the chance of encountering any enemy Stand Users then my animal friends are easily willing to help. Other than Kars and Slow Dancer, everyone is Stand Users. They'll be good partners when it comes to jobs. The only one who doesn't have an offensive Stand is Coco Jumbo but all of them can make a difference in a nasty situation." Joharai explained as Nero let out a sigh. "That's a relief. Where's Gappy by the way?" Nero asked.
"He's sleeping in his room. Gappy had been up all night getting things together for next week. It's an anniversary for the day when our dad met our mom. They met at Morioh's Local Arcade. Every year we would buy a video game like Kirby for example, spend the rest of the day playing it and make a song out of one of the game's soundtrack. We managed to order the last copy of the game for this year's anniversary, a Hat in Time!" Joharai explained exiting her game and playing the trailer for A Hat in Time.
They could agree that the game was extremely cute despite surprisingly high amount of violence and teen rating. "I never did this kind of stuff but it's pretty nice that you're doing this for your mom and dad. I hope it goes well." Dante said as Joharai smiled. "Thanks Dante. Now I'm going to check on my brother if you hear a phone call then please pick it up." Joharai spoke leaving the room. The apartment phone began to go off, not even a few minutes later.
"Got it!" Nero shouted picking up the phone. "This the Joestar Higashikata residence." Nero spoke. Nero's smile had quickly soured to the confusion of both Dante and Vergil especially when Nero slammed the phone in annoyance. "What happened?" Vergil questioned. "I'm afraid Joharai and her brother's anniversary just got trashed. That package containing her game...gotten destroyed. They won't get another shipment until three months!" Nero stated as Dante and Vergil were surprised.
"Without that game, they won't be able to pay respect to their parent's anniversary. And it's in no less than a week." Vergil stated. "Not if I can help it. No way in hell am I letting this important day for the Jojo twin's get ruined. I'm going to get that game for them even if I have to get beaten like a pinata to do it!" Dante stated with fire in his eyes. Both father and son could see how determined the half devil was and couldn't help but agree with him. They were getting that game for Gappy and Joharai even if it kills them.
And that's it! Our Stand User animals will be having turns assisting Devil May Cry during different chapters. It'll go in order from their appearance in the manga/anime series. Now then, this story and our Jojo characters have a connection to the 'Eyes of Heaven' event. How far to an extent I won't tell but Fort Minor is an important clue.
Gappy was purposely added to the Devil May Cry team since he is the perfect character to serve as our go to Stand Informant and plus the team needs another loveable dork. The kittens were from a weird dream I had a few nights again along with Tama's new form.
And I don't see Dante still being in debt without some fishy business going on with his money and dude needs to be debt free. It's hard not to pity him.
Next chapter you'll see how far our three white haired Devils go to help Joharai!
